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Jittery Tulowitzki back in Rockies' lineup

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Tulo updates injury status 1:21

4/30/13: Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki talks about the left rotator cuff injury that kept him out of the starting lineup

By Thomas Harding
/
MLB.com |

LOS ANGELES -- Healed from his left shoulder injury and excited to play in the lineup after two games off, an admittedly jittery Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki stepped into the pregame batting cage Wednesday and launched a homer to left field, an opposite-way shot to right and another to left for good measure.

Tulowitzki was in the lineup Wednesday night for the deciding game of a set of three against the Dodgers. On Sunday, he sustained a strained rotator cuff of the non-throwing shoulder on a slide into home plate on which he made contact with D-backs catcher Miguel Montero. Tulowitzki and the training staff, wary of a past that has seen Tulowitzki worsen injuries by playing through them, decided on two days off.

"I haven't played a game since this happened, so I can't really simulate some of the swings I'm going to take in the game," Tulowitzki said before the game. "All signs point to I'm going to be fine, but I don't know. I'm anxious to get out there, and I'm a bit nervous. I'll try to be myself."

Any lingering nerves did not appear to bother Tulowitzki once the game began, though, as he doubled in two runs with bases loaded in his first at-bat.

Manager Walt Weiss said before the game: "It was the best-case scenario. After he got hurt in Arizona, just a few days off and he's back out there tonight. It's good to be able to write him in the lineup. He was feeling pretty good yesterday, but it was the right thing to do, give him one more day."